The BBC Big Read

crotalus667

Does anyone recall it ??any way here are th top 200 novels from it

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz

151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews


Im afraid Ive only read 17 (most of which would be classed as chrildens) there are so many on it tht I have been wanting to read it just feels like there will never be enough time to read them

Calina

I've read 54 of them, including the top 10, much to my surprise. I've started a further 2 or 3 (although never managed to finished those ones)...I'm doing far better than I expected to be honest.

Of all of them, my favourite would have to be The Count of Monte Cristo.

crotalus667

Calina wrote: »

I've read 54 of them, including the top 10, much to my surprise.

OMG I feel like such a failure:(, it’s not surprising really the list was voted for by the every day people of the uk and Ireland not a publishing company so a lot of them you will of heard recommend by friends ect , I have printed it out and am planning of reading all 200 :eek: (i dare not think how long it will take), next on the list is the “wasp factory” (I picked it up on Sunday)

ps
my fav so far ,His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

Calina

crotalus667 wrote: »

OMG I feel like such a failure:(, it’s not surprising really the list was voted for by the every day people of the uk and Ireland not a publishing company so a lot of them you will of heard recommend by friends ect , I have printed it out and am planning of reading all 200 :eek: (i dare not think how long it will take), next on the list is the “wasp factory” (I picked it up on Sunday)

ps
my fav so far ,His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

Don't feel a failure. Of the ones I haven't read, I have no interest in reading and as it happens I happen to like Terry Pratchett a great deal which gave me a major advantage in them.

monroe

17.........a lot of it is classic english literature, so if modern stuff is more to your liking you're unlikely to score very high..

Thats my excuse, and I is sticking to it

Calina

I'd read the Bronte ones and hated them. I liked the Jane Austen ones, but was ashamed that I've read no Charles Dickens. Maybe I should rectify that.

crotalus667

Calina wrote: »

I'd read the Bronte ones and hated them. I liked the Jane Austen ones, but was ashamed that I've read no Charles Dickens. Maybe I should rectify that.

I have a cd box set with a few of the classic's (got a cheap deal) I must have a look threw to see what ones are on the list, a lot of the classics should be available on the internet for free in mp3 format , I recall finding a website geared towards visually impaired people that had a stack of the non copywriter ones on it

crotalus667

Calina wrote: »

I happen to like Terry Pratchett a great deal which gave me a major advantage in them.

I have to say Im looking foward to reading some of his books (I have not read any of them yet) which on would you sugest I start with??

Dades

Counted about 30 I've read, and I suspect a few of the kids books I may just not remember.

I wouldn't be too worried about finishing them all - there's a lot of books there best avoided in adulthood!

Legend_DIT

I've read 17.5% of the list - that's 35 for those who don't like maths.

The rankings at the top don't really reflect the quality of the books, merely the type of die-hard supporters those books have - i.e. 4 of the top 5 books were fantasy/sci-fi which have devoted readers...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising the books - just pointing out the fact that the list was easily skewed.

Psychedelic

i've read 39, but would only be interested in reading a few more.

randomguy

Have read 103. I think. There were one or two that I wasn't sure about, like Treasure Island and Dracula, that I think I remember reading as a young teenager, but am not sure about.

Have never read any Terry Pratchett, which didn't help, but have read all Roald Dahl, which did, Harry Potter, which also did, and was once stuck in a foreign country with the collected works of Jane Austen, so I am probably the only straight man in Ireland to have read all her novels. Same excuse for Forsythe Saga (all 5 novels, but only counting it as one).

Glad to see A Fine Balance there - I read it recently and thought it was stunning.

Just saw that Heidi is on the list - make it 104. Wait, 105 - I remember The Shell Seekers now too, reminded me a lot of Mary Wesley - infidelity, WWII, old people looking back on their lives etc.

I have read more than most people I know, and books of all kinds (for example I have Ulysses, Trainspotting and Flowers in the Attic on my shelves here) but there are a fair few books here I have never even heard of. And who the hell is Jaqueline Wilson? She has about 20 books in the list.

Tree

jaqueline wilson writes kids books. very recent so ive not read anything by her.

big scifi reader and kids books so im at 55 read and a few random ones started and not finished.

John

I've read 37. I don't like Terry Pratchett or Charles Dickens so that's about half the list dead to me.

brianthebard

crotalus667 wrote: »

OMG I feel like such a failure:(, it’s not surprising really the list was voted for by the every day people of the uk and Ireland not a publishing company so a lot of them you will of heard recommend by friends ect , I have printed it out and am planning of reading all 200 :eek: (i dare not think how long it will take), next on the list is the “wasp factory” (I picked it up on Sunday)

ps
my fav so far ,His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman

Will your life be changed or improved in some way if you read all 200?

crotalus667

brianthebard wrote: »

Will your life be changed or improved in some way if you read all 200?

No not really but there are a lot of books on the list that i was planning on reading any way and a lot of the rest seem intresting enough , add to that the fact that I wont have to buy any of the chrildens ones on account of having acess to a school libairy over the summer and it's not a bad reading list.

mcgovern

I've read about 30 of them, though most of them were before I was even a teenager.
Not many others there that tickle my fancy either.

Hrududu

I've read 51, and don't really agree with the order but it's still an interesting list. Flowers in the Attic though?

Was this the one that was on BBC2 a few years ago? That was a great show if it was. Every week a celeb would champion a book. I would love to have that series on DVD.

silvine

Why does Philip Pullman's trilogy only take up one place, while the Potter books take up three or four?

Dades

silvine wrote: »

Why does Philip Pullman's trilogy only take up one place, while the Potter books take up three or four?

Much as I'd agree they are deserving, His Dark Materials is really one single story.

The Harry Potter books are somewhat more self contained. I'd imagine people are inclined to have a favourite HP book, but anyone I've met who's read Pullman regards it as a single book, i.e. worth more than the sum of it's parts.

crotalus667

silvine wrote: »

Why does Philip Pullman's trilogy only take up one place, while the Potter books take up three or four?

Like Lord of the rings it was released in one book format

Pitseleh

Calina wrote: »

I'd read the Bronte ones and hated them. I liked the Jane Austen ones, but was ashamed that I've read no Charles Dickens. Maybe I should rectify that.

Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are incredible - the dark undercurrent to both, especially Wuthering Heights makes them so powerful and striking, even after re-reading them multiple times.

Personally, I can't stand Dickens - I've read a few now and have enjoyed none of them - Great Expectations was okay at best (this is being generous)and Bleak House is a chore to read...

As for the list itself, I'd imagine that Lord of the Rings wouldn't be number 1 if it were conducted today and I'd imagine Ian McEwan's works would be a lot higher up as his books are seemingly the ones of the moment...

tHE vAGGABOND

33 - which is not too bad.. [21 of top 50]

There are about a further 10 or so which I have started and gave up at some point through [War and Peace, Ulysees etc]

There are a bunch which I did not bother to read as I saw a movie of the book and did not bother!

Its a bloody good list, as when I have nothing to read I pick something off it. by working that way I have found some classic stuff I have never previously heard of 'The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett' being a great example.